Where can I as a pensioner go with my disabled grandchildren now that we have been evicted?

The long answer

There are a number of organisations who may be able to help, whose contact details I will give you, but I think it’s important to know from the outset that you do have constitutional rights. The SA Human Rights Commission says:

“The Constitution recognises the right to adequate housing as an important basic human right, where section 26 provides that:

1. Everyone has a right to have access to adequate housing; 

2. The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right; 

3. No one may be evicted from their home or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances. No legislation may permit arbitrary evictions.”

There are two important laws that protect people from being evicted without all the relevant circumstances being considered: 

1. The Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (the PIE Act) 

In terms of the PIE Act, an eviction of unlawful occupiers can only be ordered by a court if it is just and equitable to make that order. The person/s being evicted is given a chance to explain their circumstances in court, and the owner also has the right to explain their side of the story. The court must take into special consideration the rights of the elderly, children, persons with disabilities, female headed households and other vulnerable members of society. As well as you and the owner, the municipality must also attend the court hearing, in case it should be necessary to find temporary alternative accommodation for you and your grandchildren. (The State must provide temporary alternative accommodation in certain instances, such as where those that are evicted are unable to secure their own accommodation.)

2. The Extension of Security of Tenure Act, 62 of 1997 (commonly known as ESTA) gives people who lived on someone else’s land, with permission from the owner, on or after 4 February 1997, a protected legal right to continue living on that land. ESTA covers people who live in rural areas, on farms and on undeveloped land. The Human Rights Commission notes that “Many farm dwellers are not aware of the fact that they have tenure rights, and the few that know their rights may not be familiar with remedies and support available to them should they be evicted.” 

ESTA sets out the steps you can follow to strengthen your land rights. The following point will not apply to you as you have not been living on the farm for ten years, but ESTA says that if you are older than 60 years and you have lived on the land for ten years, you can stay there for the rest of your life. But like the PIE Act, ESTA protects farm dwellers from unfair evictions and sets out how land rights disputes can be resolved by mediation, arbitration or the courts.

So perhaps the place to start – urgently – is to get a free lawyer’s advice and help:

• Legal Aid South Africa is a state-funded, means-tested institution that provides free legal advice, assistance and representation to those who cannot afford it, particularly the poor and vulnerable. Anyone who requires the services of a lawyer but does not have the necessary funds can approach Legal Aid SA for assistance. These are their contact details: 

Tel: 0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7am–7pm) 

Please-Call-Me: 079 835 7179  

Email: communications2@legal-aid.co.za

• The Women’s Legal Centre Trust is an organisation that particularly supports women’s rights. These are their contact details:

Tel: 021 424 5660

• Lawyers for Human Rights. 

Their Land and Housing Programme “assists in addressing historical property and land injustices of previously disadvantaged communities in South Africa, particularly women and their housing rights.”

These are their contact details:

Tel: (Cape Town): 021 424 8561

Email: info@lhr.org.za

• Legal Resources Centre

It is South Africa’s largest public interest law centre. “…we continue to use strategic litigation and advocacy to promote justice using the Constitution, build respect for the rule of law and constitutional democracy; enable individuals and groups without access to legal resources to assert and develop their rights.”

Email: info@lrc.org.za

Tel: +27 21 879 2398

There is also The Black Sash, which is an organisation that gives free paralegal advice:

Email: help@blacksash.org.za

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865.

And finally, there is an organisation called Women on Farms, which is a non-profit organisation whose aim is “to strengthen the capacity of women farmworkers and farm dwellers to claim their rights and fulfil their needs” in the Western Cape and Northern Cape.

The contact person is Fatima Shabodien.

Tel: 021 887 2960

Wishing you the best,
Athalie